TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

We stayed here for one week in February 2026, 2 adults and 3 teens (17-19). Overall fantastic resort. Rooms: we were in block 26 (just past the lobby/restaurants/theater). Rooms and bathrooms are spacious, beds comfortable, good a/c). Was very quiet. Nice short walk thru jungle path to pool/beach. Decor was dated but the resort is about to do a full reno so I imagine it will be updated. Pool: very large, never felt crowded. Did not use floaties (like many recommended) but others did. Lots of loungers, about 1/2 with shade. There is also a smaller pool that seems to be full shade all day long. Beach: lovely beach. All chairs have shade. Need to be down by 7 am or shortly thereafter if you want loungers in row closest to water. No issue with sargasium. They clean it up regularly. Peddlers (tours, souvenirs, etc) were not pushy. Sandy bottom in ocean. Was windy 2 days we were there, waves were fun but be careful of riptide. The other days it was more relaxing. They do watch for people claiming loungers and then abandoning it. Thet will remove belongings from loungers if it is abandoned for hours, which we appreciated. Restaurants: 5 a la carte restaurants but reservations only required at 2. We ate at all except the mexican one (it was closed the day we planned to go). Food was good at all of them. The Japanese one was the most fun/memorable as they put on a show cooking in front of you. The "steakhouse" is actually more Texas bbq, served family style. Buffets: 3 buffets. The one by the pool/beach is only open at lunch. There is also a snack bar next to it. Buffet food also very good with lots of variety. We never had to wait long anywhere (buffets, restaurants, bars, etc). Staff were very friendly. Loved the jungle setting and all the animals. We did not need bug spray (recommended by others). Highly recommend.

I enjoy my stay. I been building 20 next to the beach. Room is outdated, but its ok, I didn't spent time in room, always find out something to do outside, and I'm a beach person. Beach is amazing, food is good. usually by 6:30 am I'm already on the beach, and I don't like that already on this time first raw of the chair already reserved. I see this every day for my 2 weeks stay, that beach employee reserved this chair and then people coming and giving some money to employee, and he is giving this chair to them. Not fair at all. Also, I don't like a lot of vendors on the beach trying to sell some stuff. But overall, I am enjoying my vacation and in April I'm going back

I don't usually complain but our experience at this hotel was just one thing after another and so complained (a few time) while we were there and also when we returned home. I've included the response from the hotel in my comments below so you can see the poor customer service we experienced while there and since. • On arrival after an 11 hour flight (14 hours total travel time ) and before we had even checked in we were introduced to someone called Frank who started telling us that by attending a Mexican breakfast the next morning and then being whisked to a new hotel opening up (which transpired to be an hour away) he would give us two massage spa treatments and if we booked the new hotel while there we would get a discount. We were not interested in that – especially having been travelling for 15 hours. He told us to go into the dining room and grab some dinner and he would meet us there. He was lucky that I was polite to him but I pointed out that I wouldn't be doing that – we were both tired after the flight and would be going to our room to freshen up before dinner and would see him tomorrow. We had no intention of meeting with him and did not appreciate that this was our first experience on arrival at the hotel. The hotel's response to this complaint is that "the loyalty presentations are optional". Wow - but not when I'd only been in the door 10 mins and hadn't even checked in properly! • We were then taken to our room and was very disappointed. At best the room was 3*. Everything was very tired and dated and there was nothing 5* about it. We found out the next day that the hotel is closing in May for a refurbishment but had not been made aware of that prior to our arrival. The lock on the patio door (we were on the ground floor) was broken and didn't lock. When I looked a catch had been put on the door further up but to close the catch you had to open the door slightly so it didn’t' feel very secure at all. I spoke to Reception about this and was told this was because they are about to carry out refurbishment and management didn't want to pay out for proper new locks. Great customer care and service! • The next day we went to make a coffee in our room. There was a coffee maker with the coffee, sugar etc but no milk. I asked at the Concierge desk and was advised they would put some in our fridge. It never arrived. On day 2 I asked at Reception and again was told they would put some in the fridge. It never arrived. On day 3 I asked again at Reception and this time was told when I was back in the room to call '0' and request some. I did that and at that point was advised that for 'that category of room this service isn't provided'! We had paid nearly £7,000 for this holiday – how much did I need to spend to get some milk in the fridge?! The next morning my husband went to Reception and he complained and explained what had happened. Unfortunately for the Receptionist when my husband mentioned about the category of room comment she made the mistake of laughing. Within an hour we had milk and extra coffee/sugar put in our room. The hotels response since is that milk is not provided in the room as standard. Our complaint was that why did it take them 3 day to tell us this when for 3 days we had been told (by concierge and reception) that this was no problem and some would be put in our room. Why isn't milk available in the room (even if the powdered stuff)?! How many people drink black coffee?! We felt this was poor customer service for a supposedly 5* hotel. • There was a QR code in the room to provide feedback. On 24 December I completed the feedback form. At 10.41 that morning I received a message from Pamela (on Reception) advising they had a room change available for us. I asked if it would be possible to see the room before we decided and she responded to say if we came to Reception this could be verified. We went to Reception only to be told that we should not have received that message – that it was not intended for us and that no room change was available. Following my email complaint the hotel's response was that a room change was requested in peak season. We didn't request a room change - they offered it to us! Obviously a room change was available for someone if the message had not been intended for us! • At the start of our second week we found a cockroach in the bathroom and the toilet was covered in small ant type insects. The ants were still there when we left. • For the Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve celebration we were told we would need to book (and pay extra) for a table in the theatre. We didn't bother for Christmas Eve but paid US$136 for New Years Eve. For that we had a table about 5 rows back with a bottle of rum on the table. I'm still not sure what I actually paid for – it was the same entertainment team and annoyingly despite them at one stage asking who spoke Spanish and who spoke English and the majority indicated English they spoke in Spanish for the whole night and 90% of the music played was latino. When people began arriving who had not paid extra to book a table they were put to the side of us which was just sectioned off by a rope and they sat and watched the same show and had the same drinks as us – so what did we actually pay for?! We've been to Mexico many times and have never had to pay extra for the celebrations before. • One afternoon my husband went to swap our towels and found a long queue. There were four members of staff in the towel hut and only one working – the rest were playing around on their phones. It was only when my husband loudly complained that they started work. • We found the 'hot' breakfast offering in the buffet to be cold every morning and gave up on that option. The hotel is classed as 5* but having stayed at quite a few hotels across Mexico and the Caribbean in reality it struggles to be a 4*. We paid nearly £7,000 for this holiday but we have stayed at stunning 5* hotels for considerably less than that. Following our experience there and the responses from them on our return we have since cancelled a holiday booked at another Iberostar hotel for later this year and will never stay at another one. Their customer service both in resort and since has been quite dismissive and selective in which part of our complaints they responded to. I'm sure they will respond to this to say that our complaints were all dealt with. Let me be clear - they weren't!

I’m a repeater at iberostar, but this time , I’d like to tell you how attentive they are at the concierge. Special mention for Cony at Tucson concierge that took care of me, at the level a customer can expect at iberostar. Perfect service and image. Thani you

The whole experience was mid. For the cost, I was expecting more. We went over Christmas, so the room price was increased. Cons: The food was like a casino buffet. Beautiful presentation but lacked flavor. I was thinking in Mexico, the fruit would be amazing and even the fruit wasn't ripe. We went to their Japanese restaurant. It was a cute presentation but the food wasn't good at all. The drinks are all inclusive but are overly sweet and lacking alcohol, even when I was tipping $1 a drink or $5 a round. Most people do not tip. The rooms were outdated at least room 2328 was. Even after housekeeping came, the floor still had sand and so did the bed. The rooms are not soundproof, so bring earplugs for loud people and peacocks. The water for the shower was only hot 2 times out of the 6 nights we were there. Most of the time it was luke warm at best. The power outlet for cell phones didn't work, so we couldn't charge our devices, until we borrowed a power square adapter from a friend. Our friends also didn't have air conditioning for four nights in their room. There is a ceramics painting by the pool. Be careful as they over charged my credit card $8.00. Before you get to the beach, there is a good chance of being cat called by people trying to sell you excursions. I'd think that since it is clearly on Iberostar's property, they'd protect their patrons. Someone came up on the beach and offered illegal substances, so again, be careful. As with any gift shop, the one on property is overpriced. If you need any type of medication, please take the 10 minute or so walk to Playa Del Carmen. Montezuma's Revenge, everyone in the group had it at one point in the trip. Not sure if it was from the food or ice on the resort. We bought 8 Imodium at the resort and spent $34.00 USD. Pros: The grounds were beautiful. They had coatis, peacocks, two giant tortoises enclosures, iguanas, koi fish, flamingos and aguotis. We bought $25 tickets per person to their Christmas show. It was a big waste of time and money. For the first 20 or so minutes it was musical chairs with members of the audience and then dancers jumping around. The over head fan went off and the humidity hit the whole group. We left before the actual show even started. If the show has a start time, please honor that. All in all, there are plenty of resorts in Playa Del Carmen that will gladly take your money. Find a better one to spend it at.